Lot
72

A LARGE FRENCH ROYAL ARMORIAL DISH

CIRCA 1725-1730

A LARGE FRENCH ROYAL ARMORIAL DISH
CIRCA 1725-1730
Enameled with the Royal arms of Louis XV within the orders of Saint-Michel and Saint-Esprit, a band of gilt and iron-red scrolling lotus at the well punctuated by cartouches of addorsed L's, the rim with Kakiemon style panels of fans and lotus alternate with bowls of finger citrus and other fruit on elaborate daises
15 in. (38 cm.) diameter

Provenance

Louis XV, King of France and Navarre, circa 1725-1730.
Presented to the Orleans family.
Presented to a French noble family by Charles X.
With Chait Galleries, New York.

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Lot Essay

The refined decoration on this large service relates closely to other Yongzheng period patterns, and it may have been ordered after the 1729 French royal inventory, in which it does not appear. The addorsed L's supporting a flower sprig in the pattern's gilt border may represent the King's initial. The service descended in the Orléans family until Charles X gifted it to a family with whom much remains today. See A. Lebel, Christie's International Magazine, January 2003 and A. Lebel, French and Swiss Armorials on Chinese Export Porcelain of the 18th Century, Brussels, 2009, cover and pp. 38-39.

An impressive array of shapes and forms comprise the French royal service. Two candlesticks from the Benjamin F. Edwards III Collection were sold Christie's, New York, 22 January 2002, lot 136 and 22 January 2003, lot 73. A tripartite spice box and cover was sold Christie's, New York, 14 October 1999, lot 114 and tureens were sold Sotheby's Monaco, 23 June 1986, lot 1181 and in The Hodroff Collection, Christie's, New York, 21 January 2009, lot 266.